Tax Planning for High-Income Earners

When you earn well, the tax code stops being a form you fill out and starts being a set of decisions you make all year long. A high income means a high marginal rate — the top federal bracket is 37% — and the difference between a good year and a great one is often just whether anyone was planning ahead. We work with individuals and business owners across all 50 states, from our office in Blackwood, New Jersey, to lower what they owe and keep more of what they build.



The problem with a once-a-year accountant

Most tax relationships run on a single April conversation, after every decision that mattered has already been made. By then the income has landed, the business is structured the way it's structured, and the return is really just a record of choices you can no longer change. Planning runs the other way around. We look at the year in front of you — how and when your income arrives, how your business is set up, what you plan to sell and when — and build a strategy that lowers the bill before it's written. Filing season is bookkeeping. This is the other thing.

Lowering taxable income

The most reliable dollar of tax savings is the one on income you never have to report as taxable in the first place. For 2026 that means making full use of the accounts the code rewards:

• Workplace retirement plans (401(k), 403(b), 457, TSP): up to $24,500 in deferrals, plus an $8,000 catch-up at 50+ (a $32,500 total), and a larger $11,250 super catch-up for those aged 60–63.
• IRAs: up to $7,500, plus a $1,100 catch-up at 50+ (an $8,600 total).
• Health Savings Accounts and 529 education plans, used strategically, for the rare triple-tax-advantaged and state-level breaks they carry.

The right mix depends on your income, your entity, and your goals — exactly the conversation to have in advance, not at filing.

Investment and capital gains planning

What you earn from investments is taxed on rules you can influence. Holding an asset long enough to qualify for long-term treatment, harvesting losses to offset gains, and understanding which dividends qualify for the lower capital-gains rates can each move the number meaningfully. For high earners these choices also interact with the net investment income tax and with the timing of the rest of your year — so they're worth coordinating, not making in isolation.

Estate and gifting

Keeping more of what you earn is only half of it; passing it on efficiently is the other half. For 2026 you can give up to $19,000 per recipient ($38,000 for a married couple splitting gifts) with no gift-tax filing, and the lifetime estate-and-gift exemption stands at $15 million per individual / $30 million per married couple. For families with real assets, planning gifts and transfers over time is one of the highest-leverage things you can do.

Work with us

If you're earning well and only talking to someone about your taxes once a year, you're almost certainly leaving money on the table. Let's look at the year ahead together and build a plan around it.